Google is Redefining the Rules of SEO.
Search Engine Optimisation is one of the most important aspects of a successful digital marketing strategy. However, many businesses choose not to implement it because it is deemed too difficult and Google keeps changing the rules. And it becomes even more difficult to keep up because Google never actually announces the changes. They make changes discreetly and then it is up to businesses and digital marketers to figure out the change and adjust their websites to reflect them. While SEO rules may seem difficult to keep up with, businesses will be more likely to benefit from the new and improved rules. But first businesses need to understand how Google has changed over the last 15 years, and how the new rules will affect their business ranking. We have put this guide together to help businesses with their SEO effort.
Change 1: High Quality Content
Businesses used to be able to put any content on their website, regardless of its quality, add a bunch of keywords and get a high ranking. Now Google expects businesses to only post high quality content with relevant keywords in order to rank highly. Google is continuously improving its algorithm to ensure high ranking businesses are only posting high quality content, because if they aren’t, Google will penalise them.
Change 2: Quality over Quantity
Gone are the days when Google ranked websites higher if they had more pages. Google is now focused on quality over quantity. Having a website with high quality content will always outrank a website with hundreds of pages but low quality content.
Change 3: Links
Links tie in with the quality over quantity argument above. Websites used to be able to rely on link building to ensure high rankings so they would stuff links in wherever they could, regardless of how good or bad the link was. Now, however, Google is discounting links that aren’t high quality, which means that there is no more link farming to increase a website’s ranking.
Change 4: User Experience
The term user experience is thrown around a lot nowadays, and Google has jumped on board. A good user experience on a website is vital for to ensure your website ranks highly on search engines. Mobile user experience is also a new change in Google’s ranking algorithm. As more and more consumers use their mobile to search, sites that fail to have a good mobile experience may soon become discarded.
While these changes may seem all over the place, they have one common theme – benefiting consumers. All of these changes have been made to deliver better and more relevant search results to customers. And this doesn’t just benefit consumers, but also businesses, who are now more likely to get qualified leads from their website.
To see better results businesses must be continuously adapting their website to provide a better experience for their customers. With all these changes, your website needs to become better in order to continue to have high search engine rankings.
Are you ready to improve your digital presence and increase your Google rankings? Contact us now and speak to Louie, our in-house SEO expert with over 15 years of experience under his belt.
